


like you're supposed to

by gimmickpuppet



Category: Yu-Gi-Oh! Zexal
Genre: Arguing, Everyone is a Little Bit in Love with Yuma, Jealousy, M/M, Post-Canon, lots of bg characters also
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-24
Updated: 2019-09-24
Packaged: 2020-10-27 05:30:44
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,295
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20755124
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/gimmickpuppet/pseuds/gimmickpuppet
Summary: In which Vector mistakes attraction for hatred, until the one time he doesn't.





	like you're supposed to

**Author's Note:**

> the nasch/yuma is one-sided, but can be read as however. also implications of vector/nasch... but not enough to tag.

In the weeks following the Numeron Code’s revival, Vector doesn’t go to school. He’s had enough of following Yuma around like a lost puppy, or dragging him around like an over-enthusiastic idiot, for several lifetimes. He’s _definitely_ had enough of Nasch, and the other Barians, to last millennia to come- which is unfortunate for him, seeing as he lives with the fuckers. Just the thought of seeing _Kamishiro Ryoga’s_ face at every turn around Tsukumo Yuma, though, makes something dangerous curl in the pit of his stomach. 

He’s been through that dance before; seeing Nasch and Yuma flirt gratuitously, probably without even knowing it, and it nearly makes him retch with distaste. 

He isn’t the only one, either. Vector doesn’t spend a lot of time around people, but when he does, it’s around Yuma. And Yuma is rarely seen without at least a couple of his ridiculous motley crew. So Vector starts noticing.

Alit leans a little too close to Yuma, sometimes, talks too loudly, brushes their hands against each other when he _thinks_ others won’t notice. That Mihael Arclight kid, who probably thinks he’s being real sleek when he invites Yuma over to his mansion time and time again- for homework, then tea, then maybe just to hang out. He’s sure there’s others, like that ESPer boy, whose show has become unpalatable to Vector since learning this fact. 

It’s all pretty disgusting.

Thankfully, at least, in the expanse of Kamishiro Ryoga’s - decidedly _not_ Nasch’s - mansion, Vector has to deal with the other Barians comfortably little. 

If he’s lucky.

“Vector,” he hears, and he knows today is not one of those days.

He looks up. Realizes he stayed in a common room too long, that it was already afternoon, and silently curses himself. 

For a king, Nasch has never really known how to hold himself, Vector realizes absentmindedly as he listens to him drawl on. “Are you ever going to come back to school?”

Oh, interesting.

Vector guesses he pauses for a moment too long, because Nasch pushes on. “I couldn’t give a shit what you do, personally, as long as you aren’t wreaking havoc. But Yuma asks. A lot.”

“Is that so?”

“Look,” Nasch says, and Vector sees him wince, like he really doesn’t want to be having this conversation right now. “I don’t know if you noticed, but Yuma still expects everything to go back to normal.”

Vector knows what he means, and his mouth twists down into a frown for just a moment as he thinks about _Shingetsu Rei._

“_Oh,_ I see,” Vector says instead, making his voice sickly sweet, even though he feels like banging his head against the nearest stone wall at the thinly-veiled affection in Nasch’s voice. “Dear Yuma cares about _me,_ and you care about _him._”

“It’s just annoying to hear him whine all the time about someone who stabbed him in the back,” Nasch snaps back, and _oh,_ Vector realizes with mounting glee, this is something that’s been eating at him.

“This _bothers_ you!” Vector almost laughs in Nasch’s face, and he covers his mouth with his hand as he barely contains himself, giggles and sharp single-syllable laughs slipping through his fingers. “This really bothers you! I can’t believe it!”

Nasch’s face grows flushed and Vector loses it.

He’s laughing now- _really_ laughing, voice cracking into high-pitched splits of glee, because how did he not realize earlier that he had this over Nasch’s head? He’s scrambling out of the room as Nasch is yelling after him, not bothering to listen to the lame protests of a washed-up king, unsteady hands gripping the counters in his excitement- he has to see if his school outfit still fits, _now._

\---

It’s _easy_ to fit back into Yuma’s life, and Vector almost doesn’t notice how much he despises being around the other Barians, because now he has an ulterior motive. 

He’s everywhere Yuma is- he walks him to school every morning, sits no more than two desks away in the classes they share, packs extra lunch for him and makes sure Nasch knows about it every step of the way.

Lunch is the most fun part. It's almost like it used to be, except sat on the roof with them are an assortment of the other Barians, now: Durbe has become a permanent part of Yuma's friend group (definitely because of Nasch, Vector notes), and Alit and Gilag hang around them a good chunk of the time. Mizael doesn't sit with them, which Vector is increasingly grateful for, because Mizael is kind of an asshole.

Vector sits sidled up close to Yuma, as he does every day- a move too bold for Nasch, and he gets rewarded with the dagger-eyed glares that have become Nasch's default expression around him. 

Durbe, valiant knight as he is, tries his best to engage in conversation with Nasch, using this gentle tone he gets when he’s trying to calm him down. It’s almost cute, Vector thinks with dripping disgust. Well, since they make it so easy…

“Yuma,” Vector chirps, and he presses a hand against Yuma's thigh as he leans toward him. 

"Y-Yea?!" Yuma practically squeaks, obviously caught off guard. 

Vector makes a show of bringing his other hand up to shield his mouth, and lowers his voice, making it just for Yuma. 

"Do you think they're...?" he asks, tilting his head slightly in Durbe and Nasch's direction. 

"I… no!" Yuma exclaims, his face going beet red, and Vector feels a hand against his chest, pushing him away abruptly.

Vector smirks and sees that Yuma is laughing too, a light thing that barely brushes past his lips. His chest suddenly feels tight.

He's pretty sure it's disgust. 

\---

Though, the disgust he feels when Durbe corners him in a hallway, later, between classes, is entirely different. 

"Vector," he says in his stupid nerd voice, and Vector is already feeling pangs of annoyance. Durbe is standing between him and the doorway to where they're both headed, and it just serves to piss him off more that Durbe isn't even trying too hard to block his way. Vector could easily push him aside if he wanted and ignore him entirely. Which means Durbe is giving him the choice, and that's different from what Vector expects or wants (because if he's given the choice and chooses to listen, it marks him as more of a weakling than if he were truly cornered). 

He could almost shove Durbe's face into the wall behind him and crack his dumb glasses. 

"Can I help you?" Vector snarls instead of shouldering past, because apparently he enjoys making his own life into a mounting joke. 

Durbe looks nervous, rubbing the back of his head with one hand and avoiding eye contact, choosing instead to look at the floor. 

"It's just that..." Durbe pauses, but doesn't stumble over his words or start over. "Why do you try to rile Nasch up so much? The rivalry is pointless, now." 

Vector is kind of floored. No one _asks_ Vector why he's doing something petty, the answer is obvious- Vector is just a petty person- which means that Durbe isn't asking what he wants to be. 

Vector leans closer on the heels of his feet, a lilted smile cracking across his face. "I think that you need to be a little more direct with me, Durbe," he says, feigning ignorance. 

"I'm just confused," Durbe says, and it's thoughtful, not embarrassed- he's observing Vector and his behavior, gleaning information off of him in his horrible way without Vector even saying anything, and Vector can actually _see_ the confidence in Durbe's eyes build in the moments before he tacks on, "After all, I thought you liked Yuma. Why are you so caught up in what Nasch thinks of you two?" 

It's fake, the tone of curiosity, so fake, and it makes Vector _fume._

The easiest way to defend his pride is to jab back, so he rolls his eyes skywards and spits out, "Worried I'm coming in between you and your boyfriend?" It's worded like a taunt, and it's a little weak, but Vector hopes it's something bothering Durbe anyway. "If I was really trying to do that, you'd know. He'd be-"

"Oh, I'm not worried," Durbe interrupts him. "I'm just trying to… gauge. I think you would be happier than you are now if you were more honest with yourself, after all." 

He's brushing past Vector, now, and Vector spins around to snap back something indignant, but the words die in his throat when he sees why Durbe is going the wrong way; Yuma is dashing towards Vector on sight, leaving behind an affectionately exasperated Nasch for Durbe to loop an arm around in greeting. 

"I didn't know you and Durbe were friends!" Yuma chirps, completely free of ill intent, in the way that only Yuma could be. 

"We live together, Yuma," is all Vector can say in his own defense, hoping to ward off further questions.

"Really?" Yuma gasps, as if this it total news to him. "I mean, yeah, but there's a lot of you there, so, I was under the impression you all kind of formed your own groups and-"

Vector lets the confusion of the late bell ringing in that moment to zone out of the conversation and slip away from their stupid little group. 

There's no way he can deal with sitting in a classroom with all three of those jerks after _that._

He has to make intense eye contact with himself in a school bathroom mirror for the next forty minutes to convince himself that he _doesn't_ like Yuma. 

\---

It doesn't stop there. 

When Vector walks with Yuma and some of his friends home from school, he always walks Yuma right to his house. It's a habit from when he still was pretending to be Shingetsu Rei that Vector kept out of convenience. 

For some reason, today, when him and Yuma are the only ones left walking side by side, there's a nameless emotion nagging Vector in the back of his mind, making him feel especially awkward and gangly and graceless in front of Yuma, and he doesn't know why he even cares, but it makes the conversation especially one-sided from Yuma as Vector listens in quiet contemplation. 

“Oh, Vector,” Yuma prompts, interrupting his thoughts. “You know! You never stay over anymore. You totally should, if you want! We can-” -oh, and Yuma’s hand is reaching for his wrist as if he’s going to pull him along, and Vector’s stomach starts to flip-

“I’m,” Vector interrupts before he’s sure of what he’s going to say, tugging his hand back and away from Yuma. “You know what, I’m feeling kind of dizzy. I think I should just go home.”

“Are you getting sick? Are you gonna be okay getting home? I could walk you for a change!” Yuma says in a wide-eyed earnesty that makes Vector’s stomach plunge further. _Ugh._

“_No,_” Vector hisses and brushes his sleeve off. 

“Oh… well, okay!” Yuma says, hardly put out. “Just let me know if you need something, okay?” 

Vector doesn’t say anything in response; he just shoves his hands, balled into fists, into his pockets as if to get them further away from Yuma.

And as Yuma runs cheerfully to his doorstep, practically tripping over himself as he twists back to wave good-bye, Vector feels a pit open in his stomach. 

He runs up and knocks on the door. 

\---

Yuma doesn't make a big deal out of Vector changing his mind, which he's grateful for. He's always been pretty good about that; even if it's subconscious (it has to be, since Yuma is in any sense of the word, an idiot), Yuma was always understanding and accommodating of people's comforts and needs. It was one of the things Vector used to find revolting- the quiet adjustment of attitude and cadence depending on who he was talking to, mostly because it was something he first noticed happening around Nasch- but now he… guesses he appreciates it, even if just for selfish reasons. 

"This is gonna be so fun!" Yuma exclaims, pumping his fist in the air as he tries to scramble past his family quick enough not to be stopped.

Akari grabs him by the back of his hoodie, though, and looks between him and Vector (who has enough sense to gain the posture more fitting of who he used to pretend to be, dipping his head respectfully). 

The question hanging in the air is palpable.

"It's just Vector!" Yuma exclaims, still dangling from Akari's grip, but he gestures with his hands regardless. "Can he spend the night? Pleaaaase?"

"I know he's-" Akari cuts herself off. Vector has stayed here a million times under his _Shingetsu Rei_ alias. It's strange to be introduced properly, for once. "Vector? Well, it's alright, I guess. Just no dangerous dueling, or me and him are gonna have a long _talk._" 

"Not to worry," Vector says, smiling brightly and tipping his voice into the comfortable lilt of Shingetsu's intonation. "I don't duel… very well, at least." 

Yuma's mouth drops into the _weirdest_ puppy-dog frown Vector has ever seen on his stupid face, but he has no chance to comment further as Akari drops him suddenly and he yelps as he hits the floor. 

"Set up the bed for him in the room under the attic," Akari orders as she starts to head back to her desk. "And don't stay up too late!"

"R-Right!" Yuma says, a wide grin shooting in Vector's direction as he jumps up. 

"I'll race you upstairs!" He practically shouts, sticking his tongue out at Vector and poking him in the stomach before turning and dashing away.

Vector stands stock still for a moment, as he realizes that… this is exactly why he missed Yuma. It's a disgusting thought even to himself. 

But he finds he doesn't really care right now, about upholding the only barrier between himself and a full-blown identity crisis. 

He just wants to be a kid for once. 

So he doesn't let himself think anymore as he races after Yuma, tackling him to the ground from behind, and jabbing his hands into his sides in a too-forceful attempt at revenge for prodding him moments before.

"You're squishing meeee!" Yuma complains, but he's laughing- giggling, actually, bright peels of laughter shaking his shoulders and sides and making his whole face light up.

"Good!" Vector yells, but he's smiling through his grit teeth. "You brat! Idiot! Dumb…"

And then they both realize, seemingly at the same time, that Vector has Yuma pinned to the floor between his legs and arms. 

Yuma stops giggling, the smile on his face softens exponentially, and Vector starts to regret his decision to release his inhibitions.

(He's going to hate himself _so_ much, but right now he doesn't _care._)

"You know," Yuma starts, and Vector swallows nervously.

Yuma is leaning up, slowly.

"You don't have to pretend…"

Vector stops breathing.

"...to be Rei, anymore."

Yuma is centimeters away from his lips.

"After all…"

He can feel Yuma's breath against his face, and...

"I think I like Vector even better."

This is all Durbe's fucking fault. 

\---

When Vector gets back to the mansion he regretfully has called _home,_ the next morning, he immediately seeks out the only person he can conceivably think of to solve his little issue.

It's not hard to find him- practically all over Durbe as they were studying, or reading, or whatever it is they're doing as they pretend not to be too caught up in each other to focus on any other menial task.

Vector just glowers down at Durbe (they're sitting on the couch- well, Nasch is, Durbe is laying across his lap). 

He knows he's not that threatening (he's a gangly teenager covered with freckles and sprouting ginger hair, in this form, and it drives him practically mad to be trapped in this soft vessel), but he thinks the snort that escapes Nasch is unwarranted. 

Durbe sits up, rolling his shoulders back, and Vector fumes as he watches him lean just a little closer to Nasch to say quietly, "I'll be in the kitchen." 

A side-look is cast at Vector, and the 'good luck' in the small gap of silence is all too heavily implied.

They both watch him leave, and Vector spends too long letting the heavy blanket of silence, full of scratchy tenseness, sit over them. 

Hesitantly, from Nasch,

"Did you-"

Vector lashes out suddenly, cutting him off by grasping him by the collar with both hands, tugging him forward so their foreheads are practically flush together. 

He glares into the deep pools of Nasch's eyes- widened in surprise- searching for… for something, for anything that could help him. 

"What," Nasch monotones after a moment, like their faces aren't inches away from one another, like they aren't trapped in some sick lover's embrace. "What'd I do." 

Vector notices now that Nasch's hands had come up to rest on his wrists- not tugging, not trying to tear Vector off of him- he realizes that Nasch is not afraid of him, and he knows exactly why. 

"_I hate you,_" Vector sputters out, and his chest heaves with anger. 

Silence. He wants Nasch to say something. 

"Hate me," Vector says, almost quiet, and he hates how it comes out as a plea. 

"I hate you," Nasch says, but it's without feeling. 

It's empty. 

Vector feels empty. 

"I should," Vector chokes on his own breath as it hitches, "I should _hate you._"

He knows when they forgave each other, back in that final battle, and he wishes he could forget. It would be so much easier to forget. 

"I should hate Yuma," Vector continues. "I should hate Durbe. I should hate all of you."

There's something in Nasch's eyes like pity, now, and it makes Vector's choked anger turn into a heavy, body-wrenching sob. 

A thin silence wavers around them as Vector takes a moment to wipe his eyes furiously on his sleeve, and he knows all too well that Nasch is waiting for the _just kidding_, waiting for Vector's pathetic attempt to be what he used to be.

"What are we here for," Vector says, his voice growing uncharacteristically flat, still clinging, almost desperately, to Nasch's collar, as if scared he would flee given the chance. 

"You think I have this all figured out?" Nasch asks, and the emotion in his voice is unidentifiable (something that Vector places as distaste, but for which one of them, he's unsure). 

They both know he doesn't. Another beat of silence passes. 

Vector has his head tilted down- close enough so he can smell Nasch's cheap perfume (the guy's rich, maybe he just likes smelling like a run-down bar). 

There's a moment of faint static in the back of Vector's brain, and he leans forward-

Nasch's breath pulls back-

And Vector's head falls against Nasch's shoulder. 

"I'm in love with Yuma," he says, and it feels like a weight lifted from his shoulders. 

"...Yeah," Nasch sighs out after a moment, sounding kind of… relieved. "Vector…"

He sounds hesitant, which isn't something he's used to from Nasch. 

"Listen, none of us are out to hurt you," and the words break Vector's heart, "and things are gonna be fine." 

"...Okay," Vector says, because he doesn't know what else to say at the huge sign of vulnerability, at the break of stoic character to comfort someone like him.

"Okay. Now get the fuck off of me."

\---

Vector holds Yuma's hand to school, now, and doesn't get jealous of Nasch as much anymore, and things… start to get better, for the first time in what has been lifetimes, for Vector. 

And when he looks at Yuma (stupid, bright-eyed, too-forgiving Yuma), he knows it's thanks to him.


End file.
